It might be seen as the dawning of a new era in local business. After six years in existence, the Valley’s neighborhood councils are increasingly starting to wield influence on issues such as land use and development. Businesspeople seeking to develop properties, receive zone variances or even get a liquor license, are finding another entity which they must go before. Ultimately, many businesses are realizing that without the support of their local neighborhood councils, the implementation of their goals can quickly become jeopardized. Alexander Rodriguez, general manager of the El Cubano Food Bag Market in North Hollywood, is one of these businessmen who has found the neighborhood councils a new force to be reckoned with. Rodriguez is currently in the process of seeking a zone variance to park his 48-foot trailer truck behind the store. Despite having had the vehicle for over a decade, Rodriguez was recently served with a notice that his storage of the vehicle was illegal under city laws. Contesting this notion, Rodriguez believes that the definition of “storage” is unclear in the Los Angeles Municipal Code. He reasons that by virtue of moving the truck each day to haul produce from downtown Los Angeles to the market’s North Hollywood location, his business is in fact not “storing” the vehicle. Attempting to resolve his dilemma, Rodriguez received word from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning that he would need the support of his neighborhood council. “I went before the neighborhood council’s planning, land use, housing and transportation committee to make my case for the variance,” Rodriguez said. “Some of the committee members told me that parking our truck on our property would be a detriment to the area and that it would be a parking problem. Not everyone was opposed to us but one person on the committee continued to discuss how it would ‘open the flood gate of variances.'” While Rodriguez is slated to make his formal presentation before the entire Mid Town North Hollywood Council at its May 11 meeting, he is concerned that if the council refuses to recommend giving El Cubano a zone variance, it will cripple his business. “The council is technically just an advisory board who reports to the zoning administrator, but the impression I got from the zoning administrator was that if there was no public scrutiny about the council’s decision, he would go along with it,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve been trying to cut costs for a long time, but we’ve had little success thanks to the price of workers’ comp. If we have to drop off our truck somewhere else in L.A., it will increase our diesel charges by 100 percent. With fuel being as expensive as it is, that’s a killer, not to mention the cost of storing the vehicle off-site. But Franklin P. Eberhard, the deputy director of the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, maintains that while his department does listen to the advice of the neighborhood councils, it ultimately makes its own decisions independent of any concerned party’s recommendations. “If someone said or implied that we will do whatever the neighborhood council recommends, then they didn’t speak appropriately. It is our policy to consult and listen to them, but we make no commitments that we will follow their advice,” Eberhard said. “We try to keep independent of any source,” he added. Mid Town North Hollywood Neighborhood Council President Diann Corral declined to speak on the Rodriguez matter prior to Rodriguez’s May 11 presentation. However, Corral did mention that her council has been active in dealing with local businesses and the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. “We’ve been dealing a lot with local development and the city planning department has been great about notifying us with issues,” Corral said. “We’d like to see more businesses come into the area. It would be nice to have to have something right here and not to have to go outside of North Hollywood to shop. Hopefully, with the Valley Plaza Project and the North Hollywood Commons, we’ll have more shopping locally.” Other cases According to Greg Nelson, general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), which oversees the city’s neighborhood council system, Rodriguez isn’t the first businessmen hoping to win approval from his local neighborhood council. “About a month ago, I got a phone call from an organization that was trying to build affordable housing. They said that they had just realized that they needed to establish a better relationship with their neighborhood council. Apparently, when they had brought their development plans before their city councilman, he told them to take it before the neighborhood council,” Nelson said. “The neighborhood council made requests for changes that the developers felt weren’t justified. The city councilman refused to accept the project until the recommended changes were implemented. They quickly realized that the councils have enough credibility to make changes.” Tom Hogen-Esch, an assistant political science professor at California State University, Northridge, agrees that the neighborhood councils are beginning to assert themselves. “I think it suggests a maturation process of neighborhood councils in L.A. If the Board of Zoning decides to defer to the wishes of the councils it will validate what supporters of neighborhood councils have been saying all along: that they don’t need formal power,” Hogen-Esch said. “In (Rodriguez’s case) it sounds like this is a little bit of a NIMBY issue. North Hollywood is becoming quite gentrified and the neighborhood councils may become the new vehicle for NIMBY-ism in L.A. Certainly from the perspective of business owners, that’s something that they’ve been afraid of all along.” The issue of who has oversight of the zoning process is complex. Depending on the exact circumstance, a zoning question or complaint generally falls to the jurisdiction of the district City Councilperson, or the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. Often, the Councilperson or the City Planning Department sends it to the neighborhood council for their recommendation. Once the decision is made, the issue is thrown back to the respective Councilperson or the City Planning Department for the final word. Appeals can be brought before the City Council, but only in certain cases, including Rodriguez’s. Council support City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, the representative for the Second Council District (which includes the El Cubano Food Bag Market), places a good deal of faith in the neighborhood councils’ decision-making ability. “The neighborhood councils’ viewpoints should carry tremendous weight. 99 percent of the time, I agree with the council. They have proven to themselves to be thoughtful. I’ve been impressed that they have taken the time in many cases to educate themselves on both sides of an issue,” Greuel said. “They can often be an excellent resource for businesspeople who in the past had been forced to take into account many scattered viewpoints. Now they have a conduit in the councils where they can go, participate and initiate dialogue with the community.” Greuel is not the only Valley councilperson to treat the neighborhood councils’ decisions with weight. According to Chuck Gremer, the president of the West Hills Neighborhood Council, Councilman Dennis Zine also pays close attention to the council’s business recommendations. “If someone wants a zoning change or a variance they come before us and explain what they want. We ask them lots of questions and we hear from the stakeholders in the area. We come to our conclusions based on what we think is best for West Hills and then we send that notice to our councilman,” Gremer said. “In our case, we have Dennis Zine who has worked very closely and effectively with us. He listens and agrees with our recommendations 99 percent of the time.” While Rodriguez is uncertain whether or not his case will need to travel as far as City Hall, he is diligently preparing for his meeting with the neighborhood council by studying the complex semantics of the city’s zoning laws. “I’ve been doing my research, not only examining our municipal code but the codes of other cities around the country. I can’t say what the neighborhood council is going to do,” Rodriguez said. “Our building is always freshly painted and we’re always renovating. We’ve done our part to keep the community looking nice and vibrant. All we’re asking for is to conduct business.”
